Literacy – Spanning the US :: Buffalo NY :: Hawaii :: Oxford AL

When Susan Shaft pitched her idea for a little library in
Niagara Falls during a Pints for Progress meeting, she didn’t win the pot of
money which was collected at the door that night to support the best idea
presented.

She did however, get a phone call from a women
representing a group of philanthropic employees the Seneca Niagara Casino, who
raised $500 or so to help purchase a little house-shaped box to contain the
micro lending library on Main Street in Niagara Falls.

Once the little library was installed, Shaft, the
Niagara County director of programming forLiteracy New
York/Buffalo-Niagara, was able to turn her attention back to
the real work of her literacy group — teaching adults to read and write.

Her organization, funded by a grant from New York state,
is headquartered Buffalo and has locations in Niagara Falls and Lockport.

“We have basically two different types of students —
students who read or write at 5th grade level or lower,” she said, “or foreign
students who want to read or write.” READ MORE @

Hawaii Literacy is the state's
leading non-profit provider of free literacy and education services, offering
1-on-1 adult literacy tutoring, family libraries and after-school programs at
Kuhio Park Towers and Mayor Wright Homes, English language classes, and a Bookmobile
that serves low-income communities along the Waianae coast. Since 1971, Hawaii
Literacy has trained and equipped volunteer literacy tutors to help others
learn to read. Each year, over 3,000 people across Oahu, Kauai, and Hawaii
Island work to build the basic literacy skills they need to fill out a job
application, read a book, help their kids with homework, and more!READ MORE @

For an hour or so twice each week,
Jonathan sits at a small table in what was once anOxford Public Librarysupply closet, where
Christmas decorations still stuff shelved boxes.

The room is behind the circulation
desk. With the door closed, it’s private and well away from the library’s lobby
and other patrons. Jonathan’s father waits for him in a chair out there,
reading.

Behind the closed door, his son,
now 38 years old, has spent the last two years learning to do the same. He left
a private school more than two decades ago without knowing how.

Retired school teacher Angela
Matthews is Jonathan’s tutor. She holds up index cards with the most commonly
used words in the English language written in red marker. Jonathan sounds them
out.

“K-n-o-w,” he said recently,
spelling the word forward first, then backward.

Jonathan is one of several in an
adult literacy class that Matthews, a volunteer, has taught one-on-one, by appointment
only, since 2015. He and another of Matthews’ students spoke to The Star on the
condition that their last names not be used, in order to protect their privacy.
Their inability to read has been a source of embarrassment for some.

“This is something they’ve tried to
hide for years,” Matthews said. “To sit here and be vulnerable with another
adult — that’s asking a lot.”READ MORE @